Ecological Processes and Nature-Based Solutions in Urban Railway Corridors: Perth and Beijing

Many cities are looking to adopt nature-based solutions (NBS) in greenspace to manage urban flooding and provide diverse co-benefits. Yet little research exists to inform the planning and design of park NBS. This study investigated NBS adoption in 58 public parks across major U.S. cities, using a 2022 survey by the Trust for Public Lands and other secondary datasets. We developed a typology to conceptualize a wide range of park NBS into five high-level categories by size/capacity, location of the gray–green spectrum, and design objectives. We then employed this typology to explore how a park’s adopted NBS types may relate to its landscape and sociodemographic contexts. We found that the most used type of NBS in the studied parks was ECO (a typology we defined as conserving, restoring, or creating ecosystems to mitigate flooding through ecological processes and functions), while the least used NBS type was ENG (a typology we defined as imitating natural infiltration processes but having no living elements). Further, parks that adopted ECO had significantly higher percentages of greenspace in the surrounding, as well as higher flood risks. We also found notable—though not statistically significant—evidence of potential associations between the type of NBS implementation in a park and its nearby neighborhoods’ income level, poverty, and population racial and age compositions. Moreover, our findings indicated that park visitors were more privileged compared to residents living near a park. We concluded that park contextual factors deserve more explicit consideration in the planning and design of NBS and discussed key implications of this study for practice and future research around park NBS for urban flooding.

A capacidade de regeneração natural de espécies nativas em situações de competição com árvores de plantios florestais pode ser considerado um fator de grande valor para a manutenção da diversidade. Diante disso, o presente estudo avaliou a regeneração natural de espécies nativas no sub-bosque de um povoamento de Eucalyptus saligna Smith., localizado na Reserva Biológica de Saltinho, PE. Para a análise da estimativa da regeneração natural das espécies arbóreas foram selecionados três talhões de Eucalyptus saligna Smith. Em cada um deles, foram implantadas parcelas de 1,0 x 50 m, sendo uma na extremidade do talhão e as outras distanciando 10 m de uma da outra, totalizando dez subunidades. As análises foram estabelecidas, com base no nível de inclusão das espécies arbóreas em regeneração natural com Circunferência do Caule a Altura de 30 cm do solo - (CAB0,30m) ≤ 15 cm, e as classes de alturas foram assim distribuídas: Classe 1 com indivíduos arbóreos com altura (H) 1,0 ≤ H ≤ 2,0, a Classe 2 com altura (H), 2 < H ≤ 3 e a Classe 3 com altura (H) >3,0 m. Para avaliar a diversidade florística a nível de espécie utilizou-se o índice de Shannon (H´). No total, foram amostrados 302 indíviduos vivos, pertencentes a 23 famílias botânicas, 31 gêneros e 39 espécies. Analisando-se os resultados obtidos pode-se concluir que o eucalipto possibilita a regeneração de espécies nativas no sub-bosque, contudo, a composição florística depende também de características edáficas e da proximidade de fontes de propágulos.

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can generate multiple benefits to society through the protection, restoration and renaturing of ecosystems across landscapes. NbS restore the ecological functions of degraded ecosystems and generate ecosystem services that can help counter challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change adaptation and mitigation, regulation of environmental pollution, health and well-being while offering an opportunity for job creation and a systemic change towards a nature-positive economy. Building on the description of NbS typologies across different landscapes, as well as the associated ecological processes that underpin NbS actions, we identify the societal challenges that NbS help to alleviate and the resulting societal benefits. This foundation allows the paper to explore diverse economic assessment methods for valuing ecosystem services, placing these methods within the context of landscapes, while also linking them to the benefits derived from NbS. By examining the connections between NbS across landscapes, societal challenges, ecological processes and NbS benefits, we are able to reposition traditional ecosystem valuation methods within a new and emerging context, emphasizing the need for enhanced interdisciplinary collaboration. Our analysis of NbS benefits and valuation methods builds targeted peer-reviewed literature, EU publications and reports, and iterative interactions with organizations partaking in NbS projects. The paper provides valuable insights crucial for well-informed resource allocation and financing decisions of policymakers. While primarily serving as a guiding framework, it also offers information to a wider audience, including practitioners seeking a deeper understanding of NbS typologies, NbS-related benefits, and their economic implications.

The Climate Science for Ecological Forecasting symposium

The arrival of the phrase nature-based solutions into the lexicon of academics, planners, managers and policy makers in recent years has sparked a heated debate as to the effectiveness of using nature as a viable solution for mitigating the impacts of anthropogenic environmental change. One of the difficulties of evaluating the potential efficacy and impact of nature-based solutions is that it is believed that there is little evidence by way of a precedent or long-term successful examples. Much literature exists on the subject of designing with nature to provide multi-functional green infrastructure, connectivity in the landscape, and ecosystem service provision. Indeed, in the opinion of many, the nature-based solution approach appears to synergise research into green infrastructure, ecological connectivity and ecosystem service provision for building climate-related resilience. However, when a nature-based solution has been specifically selected over, say, an engineered solution the literature is rather less clear. So, decision-makers may find it necessary to rely on less reliable sources of impact evidence. This paper argues that field boundary hedgerows may be considered to be exemplars of a nature-based solution, one that was planned, designed, perfected and mainstreamed at a landscape scale, that was specifically selected over a non-nature-based solution, and one that is still in providing solutions and co-benefits today. Therefore, hedgerows may provide some perspective into the potential or emergent co-benefits that the current nature-based solution approach seeks to provide.

S.M.C.'s in the U.K.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognized as strategic alternatives and complements to grey infrastructure for addressing water-related challenges in the context of climate change, urbanization, and biodiversity decline. This article presents a critical, theory-informed review of the state of NbS implementation in European water management, drawing on a structured synthesis of empirical evidence from regional case studies and policy frameworks. The analysis found that while NbS are effective in reducing surface runoff, mitigating floods, and improving water quality under low- to moderate-intensity events, their performance remains uncertain under extreme climate scenarios. Key gaps identified include the lack of long-term monitoring data, limited assessment of NbS under future climate conditions, and weak integration into mainstream planning and financing systems. Existing evaluation frameworks are critiqued for treating NbS as static interventions, overlooking their ecological dynamics and temporal variability. In response, a dynamic, climate-resilient assessment model is proposed—grounded in systems thinking, backcasting, and participatory scenario planning—to evaluate NbS adaptively. Emerging innovations, such as hybrid green–grey infrastructure, adaptive governance models, and novel financing mechanisms, are highlighted as key enablers for scaling NbS. The article contributes to the scientific literature by bridging theoretical and empirical insights, offering region-specific findings and recommendations based on a comparative analysis across diverse European contexts. These findings provide conceptual and methodological tools to better design, evaluate, and scale NbS for transformative, equitable, and climate-resilient water governance.

Large conservation opportunities exist in >90% of tropic-subtropic coastal habitats adjacent to cities

To protect vulnerable coastal dunes from the growing pressures of climate change and human activities, effective and sustainable management through Nature-based Solutions (NbS) is essential. The Living Dunes Python package (https://users.ugent.be/~frevdael/) is a novel spatially explicit, process-based model that simulates coastal dune dynamics by coupling vegetation dynamics with aeolian transport and key environmental drivers. Developed in collaboration with the Dunefront and SUSANA projects, which aim to enhance coastal protection through NbS, Living Dunes is being parameterized with trait data from dune-building plant species, which are at the basis of bio-geomorphological feedbacks. Species-specific parameters for key life stages, including germination, growth, dispersal, and mortality, are incorporated to represent the diversity of coastal dune communities and their role in delivering NbS. These demographic processes are driven by environmental variables derived from global datasets and online APIs, enabling the simulation of fine-grained vegetation dynamics under various climate change and NbS implementation scenarios. By integrating trait data, process-based modeling, and global datasets, the Living Dunes package demonstrates how computational tools can be used to understand and predict coastal dune responses to environmental change, directly informing the design and optimization of NbS for dune restoration and coastal protection in the face of climate change and anthropogenic pressures.

<p>It is expected that 80% of the world population will be living in urban areas by 2050, therefore more pressure on natural resources will be exacerbated if we continue with harmful human environmental practices, since pre-industrial era, intensifying the mayor environmental, social and economic challenges in cities. Scientific evidence shows the potential of Nature Based Solution to tackle environmental, societal and economic challenge related to urbanization, climate change, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in cities.</p><p>The research article analyses EU regulation and framework related to cities, environmental, economic, and aim to discuss the status quo of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) integration in urban planning Cities in H2020 Project, for better implementation policies on NBS at the city level, identifying gaps and potentials through a comprehensive mapping of the terrain on NBS policies in EU Cities, allowing for upscale and replication of those solutions in a form of a validated roadmap for sustainable cities across Europe and world-wide.</p><p>The main findings to shape the sustainability world of tomorrow of the research activities are as follow: to promote the inclusion of NBS in urban planning and decision making processes it was generally perceived that cities with more investment in research and innovation funding are more suitable for enabling cities to design and implement transition pathways to becoming inclusive, resilient, sustainable, low-carbon and resource efficient, to tackle most of the challenges Europe is facing today, such as climate change, health and well-being, loss of biodiversity of unsustainable urbanization.</p><p> Therefore, cities will contribute to improve the environmental, social and economic dimension, providing the way towards a more resource efficient, competitive and green economy with the implemention of the NBS, that might be tackled in an integrated, coherent and holistic approach to enhance sustainability, resilience and quality of life for dwellers.</p>

Nature-based solutions (NBSs), a sustainable landscape restoration approach, covers rebuilding ecological functionality and integrity in a watershed. The objective of restoration with NBSs is to revitalize the ecosystems to provide and sustain multiple services. Therefore, it is more than just planting trees or rewetting wetlands. NBSs can provide effective landscape restoration and management tools but should be applied on a methodological basis to get the full benefits. The methodological basis includes the type and nature of NBS, the application principles, and the tools to assess the efficiency of the set of NBS applied. However, most literature on NBSs is theoretical, while practitioners need applicable guidance. In this paper, we reviewed the latest literature on the NBSs and tried to connect the theory with some practical examples. We also underlined that NBSs applied in landscape restoration should relate to watershed processes since streamflow and/or stream quality are significant performance indicators. The NBSs should strengthen the resiliency towards multiple stressors and disturbances in a landscape. The widespread stressors in Türkiye landscapes are related to water balance that compares precipitation and evapotranspiration. Therefore, we suggest Budyko theory application in evaluating NBS options instead of typical climate models. Overall, this paper defines NBSs, provides examples, discusses possible methodologies, and comes up with some practical conclusions. The points we discuss are the resiliency assessment approach, scale, and location of the application, identifying the problems in a watershed through adequate quantitative indicators, and setting up the thresholds planned to be achieved.

Time in and for nature-based solutions. No quick fix solutions for complex ecological and social processes

Green and blue infrastructure, nature-based solutions, and cultural and built heritage play a key role in enhancing ecosystem services provision and shaping urban quality and communities’ wellbeing calling for an integrated approach to ecosystem services in urban policy and planning and decision-making. On the other side, under-used spaces and buildings have social, cultural, economic, as well as ecological functions and benefits, which are essential to sustainable urban development. The EU has been developing and implementing policies for an integrated approach to urban development and sustainable land use through the implementation of the Urban Agenda for the EU and fourteen associated Partnerships. Thus, it engaged a broad range of institutions and stakeholders across Europe in promoting local projects and sharing best practices on sustainable land use and nature-based solutions, the circular economy, and cultural heritage. This paper reviews the experiences of cities involved in the Partnerships of the Urban Agenda for the EU by illustrating how they related to different modes of ecosystem governance and associated challenges, discussing how three case studies integrate different dimensions of ecosystem services and regeneration in under-used areas and what type of knowledge as well as regulation and governance modes they have developed for supporting innovation in land use planning and management for urban ecosystem services. The results show that appropriate alternative regulations and policies are little explored and that cities adopt an integrated approach, combining cultural, environmental, economic, and social dimensions in their interventions, directly or indirectly enhancing the benefits of built and natural heritage and urban ecosystems in under-used areas. However, some issues, such as nature-based solutions and climate change, are still partially integrated into the projects while priority is given to the cultural, aesthetic, and economic dimensions.

Integrated solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises—together with other global sustainability challenges—include the identification, design and implementation of nature‐based solutions (NbS). Living organisms mediate biogeochemical cycles and greenhouse gas fluxes from land and sea, and provide NbS to both climate change mitigation and adaptation. Plants, as the primary producers in ecosystems, lie at the heart of NbS. Plant ecology provides the foundation for developing and evaluating NbS based on an understanding of the ecological processes that underlie ecosystem service flow to people. In this Special Feature, we provide a collection of mini‐reviews that presents concise and focused analysis of the plant ecology of NbS. The mini‐reviews highlight key insights, challenges and opportunities for future research. The development of NbS that target specific ecosystem functions (e.g. carbon storage), or aim at increasing ecosystem resilience against perturbations (e.g. those associated with climate change), requires unification of ecological theory from areas such as biodiversity‐ecosystem function, plant–animal interactions, resilience and functional traits of organisms. Synthesis . Plant ecology and nature‐based solutions (NbS) research are complementary. Plant ecology can inform the design and management of effective NbS, and provide insights for the creation of novel ecosystems that provide NbS; while learning from the implementation of NbS can progress theory. To deploy NbS at the speed and scale needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change, we must rapidly integrate ecological concepts into the design of NbS. At the same time, the design and deployment of NbS in different ecological contexts provides an unprecedented opportunity to learn how performances of individual NbS sites can be explained in an integrated way, leading to the development of general concepts. Ultimately, a mechanistic understanding of how plants and their functional traits contribute to ecosystem function and service provision is critical for the design, verification of benefits from and avoidance of adverse effects of NbS.

Traditional agricultural land consolidation and ecological restoration measures can address the challenges faced by agricultural land in the short term, but they often overlook the ecological benefits of the land and human well-being. Here, while emphasizing foreseeable project outcomes, we define a conceptual framework of Agricultural Land Consolidation and Ecological Restoration through Nature-based Solutions (ALC&ER-NbS) from three dimensions: ecological sustainability, economic viability, and human well-being, integrating the NbS concept with engineering project evaluation. Our study establishes 8 guidelines and 27 indicators, including scientific restoration, ecological connectivity, biodiversity enrichment, economic feasibility, public participation, benefit coordination, dynamic monitoring, and the promotion of successful cases. This results in an evaluation checklist covering 63 engineering and management details throughout the entire project design life cycle. By using a self-assessment tool for quantifying compatibility, the aim is to quickly verify the project’s degree of adaptation. This study is significant as it introduces a comprehensive evaluation system that not only addresses ecological and economic challenges but also prioritizes human well-being, distinguishing it from previous research. The innovative integration of NbS into agricultural land consolidation ensures sustainable development and offers a new approach for enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services.